The New York Personal Injury Law Blog brings you the week that was:

The biggest news was the Vioxx verdict in Atlantic City. At the Mass Tort Litigation Blog, note was quickly taken of the $20M verdict for compensatory against Merck for Vioxx. After the subsequent $27.5M punitive verdict on top, Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Undergound did a recap of other blogs on the subject, including one from the son-in-law of the plaintiff, which interestingly enough, has now been removed. It was here: Vioxx;

William Childs at the TortsProf Blog notes (Up In Smoke), a big article in the ABA Journal about “how greed, hubris and high-stakes lobbying laid waste to the $246 billion tobacco settlement.”

From my own blog, following much recent discussion of punitive damages: Will DaimlerChrysler $50M Punitive Damage Verdict Withstand Review?

From The Injury Blog, two posts on police brutality cases: $200,000 Pittsburgh Police Brutality Settlement for Hot Dog Shop Patron’s Personal Injuries; and Updates on Chicago Personal Injury Lawsuits Claiming Police Brutality;

The South Carolina Appellate Law Blog notes that there is a New Inquiry of the Catholic Diocese in Charleston, regarding unreported cases of sexual abuse, indicating that such suits appear from far over;

Trucks were big this week down south, with Jim Higgins at the Tennessee Law Blog discussing the ramifications of highway safety as the DOT opens the border this year to Mexican trucks and drivers with, shall we say, less stringent safety values in Tennessee Highways Not As Safe; And Ken Shigly reporting a federal court decision in one of his own cases that rejected a motion to throw out punitive damages;

Evan Schaeffer writes about a decline in mega-verdicts at the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog in Top 10 Jury Verdicts in 2006;

Kevin, M.D. brings us a disturbing story, when a baby’s remains were lost, and the OB was sued;

And finally, since this is a personal injury law blog, Margaret Collins Online hears a story about dangerous doormats, and wonders if we are becoming too risk averse.

Leading off the personal injury law round-up is a long piece by Ken Shigley from the Atlanta Injury Law and Civil Litigation Blog entitled Financial Responsibility of Interstate Motor Carriers for Negligence of Truck Drivers, that concludes the regs work together to eliminate the “independent contractor” versus “employee” distinction in the motor carrier industry. In another post he speculates that this could play a role in the recent bus crash that killed 6 college students.

Andrew Bluestone of the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog points out that sometimes cases come to personal injury attorneys from other lawyers as they are substituted out. Thus: A Short Primer on the Retaining Lien.

Bob Kraft’s P.I.S.S.D. points out from Dallas that the FDA Update on Peanut Butter Recall: Salmonella found in the ConAgra Plant.

Moving on to drugs, Law.com reports on this case from Britain’s High Court: Overmedicated Lawyer Awarded $2.7 Million right on the heals of a new domestic report on medication errors after surgery.

For those following the Zyprexa litigation, Pennsylvania has sued Eli Lilly and others for fraudulently distributing the medicine. Two outstanding posts on the subject to get anyone up to speed are from David Michaels at The Pump Handle (More Consequences of Undisclosed Science: Pennsylvania Sues Drug Makers) and William Childs at TortsProf Blog (Zyprexa: Pennsylvania Sues and Thoughts on Sequestered Science).

If you are following the ongoing Vioxx litigation, Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground has a list of upcoming trials.

On the other side of the aisle is Walter Olson at Point of Law, in a discussion of how tort reformers are shifting tactics from attempts at legislative change to procedural change: Liability reform’s new direction: procedure. Although, television and pop culture may be a much bigger factor in litigation results, as Anne Reed points on in Deliberations with The CSI Effect: While Scholars Get Empirical, Libby’s Lawyer Tries It Out.

CEO David Levy at Running a Hospital discusses what it’s like for docs to be sued in The Shame of Malpractice Lawsuits.

Flipping back to pro-consumer posts, Paul Ruschman at TortDeform, does a book review on Blocking the Courthouse Door by Stephanie Mencimer, who has her own blog at the Tortellini.

Michael Townes Watson, also at TortDeform, gives an update on one state’s attempt to close the courthouse doors to personal injury victims: Tennessee Tort “Reform” is Misguided;

And John Day from Day on Torts also discusses the Tennessee fight in his op-ed piece in The Tennessean (Injured Patients Deserve Equal Justice). It’s a good read regardless of the state you are in.

Moving next door to Kentucky, the legislature is doing battle over loss of consortium claims in death cases, as recounted by Michael Stevens in the Kentucky Law Review in Kentucky Senate Owes State’s Widows an “Up or Down” Vote on Widows’ loss of companionship bill;

Finally, at the Maryland Injury Law Blog, Ronald Miller responds to an AOL “story” about dumb lawsuits, in Most Outrageous Lawsuits: The Attack on Personal Injury Lawyers Continues Unabated.

Submissions for next week’s edition may be made to blog[at]TurkewitzLaw.com

Some of the best of the recent blogs dealing with personal injury law (that I found):

• On the subject of punitive damages in Philip Morris v. Williams:
• Williams v. PM and the Passing of Punitive Damages Class Actions (Drug & Device Law)
• The End of Punitive Damage Class Actions? (TortsProf)
• Will these be claims of the future? Does Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Increase Alzheimer’s Risk? (Traumatic Brain Injury)
• Allstate and State Farm continue to get shredded in the press: CNN Story On Hardball Auto Insurance Tactics (P.I.S.S.D.)
• Having trouble getting your message across the the jury? This might be a reason why: Context Is All: Tapping, Teletubbies, and The Curse of Knowledge (Deliberations)
• The answers depend on the questions you asked: Not the Answer You Want? Take Care in Phrasing the Question (The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog)
• Every profession has someone that says dumb things, and ours is no different: Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Creates Buzz Over Venue-Shopping (WSJ Law blog)
• The Staten Island Ferry disaster has a judge holding NYC to its own standards of safety: You can’t be too careful (Overlawyered)
• The ongoing Vioxx saga of trials: Vioxx Update: An Opening & A Closing (WSJ law blog)
• Will trial lawyers “make out like bandits” if SCOTUS allows suit in Scott v. Harris to go forward? The Great Escape (They think so at Overlawyered, but a certain commenter thinks otherwise)
• Yes, there is also Parts 1-5 if you follow the link: Tort “Reform” Hypocrites Vol. 6 (Tort Deform)
• And something a bit more important than all of the above: New Addition to the Swanner Family (South Carolina Trial Law Blog)

If you wrote it well and are proud of it, send it on to me at Blog[at]TurkewitzLaw.com for future editions.